


Wheels of Justice

by JoJo



Series: Honeymoon Trail [15]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 04:52:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8735572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoJo/pseuds/JoJo
Summary: It might not be a question of how to bring down Ella Gaines but more a question of who's going to get there first.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [randi2204](https://archiveofourown.org/users/randi2204/gifts).



> Very late for your birthday, hon! And with thanks to Fara for lightning beta skillz.

They weren’t going to let him inside the cell, that was for sure. Judge or no Judge, employee or no employee. Didn’t matter how long his journey had been or how important he thought he was, the rules were the rules.

“Dangerous prisoner,” Orrin Travis remarked to the deputies, half a question, half a wry statement.

There were two of them in the Pine Tree Falls jailhouse. One seemed experienced, the other not. They were respectful to his position and neutral in their attitude, both of which were more than acceptable. Travis thought he could have written several books on how to train officers of the law, and certainly respect and neutrality would be in there somewhere. 

“You can have your privacy, Judge Travis,” the older deputy said, taking the elbow of his fellow to draw him away. “But that’s all we can do for you.” 

“I’m obliged,” Travis replied. 

He waited until he heard the click in the lock of the door that separated the office from the cells. Only then did he turn back to the dimness.

Larabee was on his feet.

He was standing up inside the first cell, one hand curled, tense, around the bars. A short, black coat was draped around his shoulders, the shirt underneath rumpled and hanging out of his pants. He was unshaven and wild-looking, hair dirty, jaw rough with whiskers.

“You came.” His voice was faint.

Travis rolled his shoulders, stiff from the stage. He’d stepped down on to the street, taken possession of his bag, and walked straight here without a pause.

“I’m sorry it’s taken so long,” he said. He brushed some dust off his coat. “And that it’s such a mess.” He met the prisoner’s bloodshot eyes, shook his head, not feeling any better than he had the whole journey. “Can’t say as I’m pleased to see you – not in here.”

“But you can settle things, right?” 

Travis came a few steps closer, wishing Larabee didn’t sound so desperate. 

“Can’t control all the legal processes at work,” he admitted with some reluctance, “but I can be your representative and I fully intend to be. Which means I need your side of things first and foremost. What I’m getting from elsewhere isn’t looking too promising.”

“Elsewhere?” Chris growled, fingers tightening even more.

Travis patted the small leather document case under one arm, fat with papers. “Sheriff here’s a good man but this is a tricky mess and he means to do things right. Then there’s the witnesses to your activities, you and Standish.”

Larabee made a move then as if he’d been almost winded. “You seen Ezra?”

“Not yet. Came straight here. From what I hear he’s not up to telling me much yet anyhow. I need the truth from you.”

“Truth could get us killed.” 

“I see.” Travis took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his mouth. He had a powerful thirst and it felt as if there was grit from the journey in between his teeth. “Well, whatever way this thing goes, it will be used against you in court.”

“I know that,” Larabee growled. “Starting to seem to me like there’s only one way out of this mess.”

Travis didn’t like the sound of that. “Proving your innocence?”

Larabee gave an inelegant snort. “Said it yourself. The truth coming out will see that doesn’t happen. Ezra and I did what we did for a reason, and maybe it was foolish, and maybe it might have worked. That doesn’t even matter now. Whatever happens to me, what matters is that she isn’t allowed to carry through her threats. Hell, even with all the boys here Ezra ain’t safe.”

“No,” Travis agreed, grave. 

“Hell, Judge, the most danger he might be in isn’t even from her or her henchmen. It’s from ending up in here. It’s what she wants, swear to God.”

All this had been rolling around in Travis’s head as the stage had rattled its way west. And he was in two minds as to the best way forward.

“As I understand it, you’re behind bars because she said you fired on her, tried to kill her? And then there’s the other matter.” Travis’s lip curled. There was a part of this he didn’t think he’d ever understand, long as he lived. “Consorting around town with a man in a dress. That sure hasn’t helped, but the charge is still attempted murder.”

“She doesn’t want me in here,” Chris said, fiercer and louder. Something about his voice made the hair stand up on the back of Travis’s neck. “Not for long. She’s just trying to keep us apart, me and Ezra. What she wants is…” And he stopped, fisted his hands back around the bars as if it was her neck in his grasp.

“Take it easy,” Travis said, quietly commanding. It worried him how strung-out Chris was. How nearly at the end of his rope. That was not what was needed right now. “What I don’t want to see is your anger and frustration, you hear? I understand it, but it tends not to help justice. I want you to go sit down, calm down, and then I want you to tell me the whole story. From the beginning. And I want the truth.”

Chris pulled back from the bars so hard they vibrated. He looked Travis in the eye as if gauging how he might take all this. Then he took a few steps backward, shoulders slumped. There was a creak as he lowered himself slowly and stiffly on to the cot.

“Hell,” he said. “The dress. Well for a start, it was all Ezra’s idea.”

*

Josiah gave it a half hour before he went to post himself outside the jailhouse.

He was aware of some curious looks from the townspeople. They knew he was a recent arrival, knew he was connected with the man in the jail and the group still hanging round their town. Some of them probably knew more than others, Josiah thought. He nodded soberly whenever anyone met his eyes.

After another thirty minutes, Judge Travis finally came out of the jail carrying his bag.

“Josiah,” he said, offering his hand for a shake. “Where are the boys? I saw Buck as we pulled in, but then he up and disappeared.”

“Vin, Nathan and J.D are at Miz Murphy’s right now, Judge. And Ezra of course. They’ll be glad to see you.”

“And I them,” Travis returned.

They found Vin pacing the hallway of the boarding house. Nathan was waiting just inside the front room, sitting forward on a chair, elbows on his knees, and damn if he didn’t have the taint of the sickroom hanging around him. Almost as soon as the door opened and Travis passed inside, there were steps on the stairs and J.D. came pattering down to join them. Travis’ first thought was that the boy looked as if he’d grown up in the intervening weeks since he’d been in town with them all. 

He took off his dusty hat and hung it on the hat-stand in the corner.

“What have you got for me?” he asked as he turned around.

Josiah was impressed. The man had spent nearly an hour with Chris, and he wasn’t even thinking about food or rest yet. Just wanting to get on with things.

“Hell, Judge, there’s so much and so damned little.” 

That was Vin. He’d been out earlier and still had his mare’s leg crooked over one arm. Lord knows he must be making the townsfolk here uneasy, Josiah thought, continually tracking the town as if he was on the trail and ready to bring down a mountain lion.

“Just briefly, so we know where to go from here,” the Judge said.

He did seem weary from his trip, and on edge. But business-like too, which made Josiah feel a little better somehow.

“Where to start...” Nathan murmured. 

“Well, how’s Ezra? That seems a good place.”

Nathan rubbed his whole hand down his face. “Sleepin’ for the moment, ‘bout as peaceful as he ever gets.” He glanced at J.D. for confirmation and his shoulders sagged with the reality of it. “Ain’t over the hump yet and for sure he’s in no condition to make the trip home, but, well...”

“Yes.” Travis pursed his lips. “Chris told me he wants him out of here. Told me he thinks that woman’s still on the prowl.”

“We ain’t seen her,” Vin said. “Not in a while. But we’ve seen some fellers we recognize. Reckon she can’t be far away. We’re ready to load Ezra on to the wagon just as soon as Nathan says he can travel.”

“And the bullet? Chris told me about that too. He’d still like to believe he hit her himself.” The Judge was gruff, and short, as if the conversation hadn’t gone too well.

“Buck’s with the doctor that treated her now, or at least we hope he is. Man’s been out of town so we ain’t had the chance to find out what he knows. When we heard he was back we sent Buck to talk to him.” Vin’s eyes flicked to the window, impatient. “Waiting on him any time.”

“And have you given any consideration to what happens if the bullet is located? Or indeed if it is not.”

“Me?” Vin said, surprised.

“All of you,” the Judge said quietly. He pursed his lips into the silence that followed. 

In the end, even though Josiah knew he didn’t much like speaking up for everybody, it was Vin who answered. 

“The Gaines woman wants two things,” he said, voice harsh. “She wants Ezra dead, and she wants Chris. Reckon we’ll do what we hafta so she don’t get either.”

Travis glanced at him keenly. “Yes, that’s more or less what Chris just said to me too. And I’m worried he may be considering giving her the latter so she doesn’t get the former. If you see what I mean.”

Nathan’s face scrunched as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Chris said that?” 

“Not in so many words.”

“He might do it.” Vin’s voice was so low, so strained with repressed rage that it was almost inaudible. “But only to give us enough time to get Ezra safe. Chris gets anywhere near Ella Gaines, sooner or later he’s going to kill her. That’s for damned certain. She’s completely lost her mind if she believes anything else.”

“I think we can agree that Miss Gaines lost her mind some time ago,” Travis said, dry. 

At that moment there was a banging noise out on the boardwalk, steps thundering nearer. Then the front door of the boarding house sprang open and Buck barreled his way through, out of breath. 

He half acknowledged the Judge before bursting out with, “Hell but I reckon we might be in worse trouble than we were before.”

Josiah felt his stomach drop into his boots at that. Short of Ezra losing his tenuous grip on recovery he didn’t dare think what ‘worse than before’ might mean.

“What’s happened?” Nathan demanded. 

“Damn,” Vin said, hand tightening once again on his mare’s leg. “It’s the bullet ain’t it?”

Buck rubbed his head, as if trying to straighten out his thoughts.

“Spoke with the doc,” he said. “Man’s real smart. Kept the bullet he dug out, in a little tin with the date on and everything. Said he always does that after a shootin’, for a while at least. Case it’s needed. Showed it to me.” Buck plumped his hands to his hips. “Small caliber all right. Not from Chris’s gun.”

“The Derringer,” the Judge said quietly, while Vin hissed through his teeth.

“Even worse than that.” 

J.D.’s eyes widened. “Ah hell, Buck, what?”

“Said a couple of fellers had already been to see him not long before us. Asking the same thing. He showed it to them, too. And I reckon we can guess exactly where they came from.”

“So she knows.” Vin swung back to the window once again, jaw working.

There was a silence, while Judge Travis began to slowly worry at a point between his brows.

“J.D.,” Josiah said, laying a hand on the back of the young man’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go along and see if Miz Murphy would bring the Judge here a pot of coffee and a bite to eat.”

“’Course,” J.D. said, although he gave Buck a sidelong look as he passed, as if he was wondering just what they were going to talk about once he was out the room. He’d given up asking them tricky questions about Chris and Ezra but he probably still thought they were hiding something. Nathan glanced up at the ceiling, mind clearly elsewhere as usual. He exchanged a glance with Josiah, then slipped out of the room. They heard his steps as he took the stairs.

Josiah was relieved when Travis decided to take a seat. To his mind the older man was already looking a little unsteady on his feet. 

“We’ll work our way through all this,” the Judge said tiredly. “Just need to think.”

There was quiet in the room. Josiah attempted to convey to Buck and Vin, who both seemed to be about to explode, that they should give Travis some peace for a moment. 

J.D. seemed to take his sweet time coming back down the passage from the boarding house kitchen. They heard some voices, muffled through walls, the sound of a door closing. Nathan came back downstairs, reported that Ezra was still resting easy. 

“Coffee?” he asked, looking around hopefully.

“Heck, reckon J.D. must be grinding the damn beans himself,” Buck said.

But then, when J.D. did finally reappear there was no pot of coffee at all. Not so much as a cup.

Instead he had a folded sheet of paper in his hand.

“This just came for you, Judge. Delivered to the back door.” His face was clouded with seriousness.

Travis looked up, hand at once fishing for his spectacles. 

“Thanks, son,” he said. “Who brought it?”

J.D. shrugged. “Boy running an errand. I checked. He was given it by some feller.”

“Some feller?” Buck repeated. “Seems like there’s one heck of a lot of some fellers runnin’ round this town.”

All eyes turned to Travis as he broke the seal and unfolded the page. He scanned it briefly.

“It’s her,” he said when he was done, almost as if he wasn’t surprised. His face became lined as it sunk in and he began to nod slowly. Once again he ran his eyes over the few lines on the letter. “She knows I’m here and would like to meet me. To give her side of the story, she says. Signs off ‘Ella Gaines Larabee’.”

Buck made an uncouth noise at that, and Vin swore under his breath.

“And are you?” Josiah asked pointedly. “Going to meet her?”

Travis looked up from the page, almost distracted. “Am I?” he repeated. “Yes, gentlemen, I rather think I am.”

“Well you sure ain’t going alone,” Vin said in a low growl, hand straying to his side arm as if she was already outside the door waiting.

Travis tucked the letter into his jacket breast pocket. “Much as I appreciate the protective sentiments,” he said. “I’m pretty sure she won’t talk to me if any of you are around. She wouldn’t feel safe.”

“Safe!” Buck yelped. “Damn that bitch, god damn her! Never mind safe, you should be taking her into fuckin’ custody. She’s a lyin’, murdering-”

“Steady,” Josiah interrupted.

“All in good time, Buck,” Travis said. “Summary justice is not my preferred method, you all know that.” 

Buck struggled for calm. “Ella Gaines runs with a pack of mongrels who wouldn’t think twice about shootin’ you in the back, Judge.”

“Well that may be so. But there wouldn’t be much point her telling me anything if she was just going to have me killed.”

“It’s a trap,” Buck said, starting his own pacing. Josiah thought that between them he and Vin must have about worn a track in the carpet. “Just her style.”

Travis sighed as he got to his feet again. “That’s always a possibility. But she wants something, and evidently sees me as a way to get it. I think we need to know what’s in her mind.”

“Well it may be the right thing to do but I say it’s just too risky,” Buck declared.

Travis raised his brows, pointed. “Which is rather why I pay you, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Reckon he’s got you there, Bucklin.” Vin’s voice was a shade amused although there wasn’t much light in his eyes. 

“One of you needs to go and tell Chris about the bullet, and about this. No sense keeping him in the dark, however it goes. Man deserves to know everything we do, else he’s just going to get more twisted up than he already is.”

“I’ll go,” Nathan said. “I need to check in on him anyhow. Make sure they’re treating him right.”

“And I’ll come with you far as the livery, Judge,” Vin added.

Travis gave a short nod of gratitude. He picked his sidegun out of the holster and checked it. “Wait on me with concern by all means, gentlemen,” he said, looking keenly at Buck. “But don’t follow me. If I’m not back in a couple of hours, then please do have at it.”

With further ado he retrieved his hat from the stand, and he and Vin left the boarding house.

“Stubborn old son-of-a-bitch, ain’t he?” Buck said, tone equal parts frustrated and admiring.

“Yes indeed,” Josiah agreed. “Which is why we should be very glad he’s on our side.”

*

The Judge returned to town around two hours after he’d ridden out.

It was dark by then and the usual light was burning up in the sickroom of the boarding-house. All well.

Vin had kept a low profile in town, not wanting to draw any attention. He’d had his eye on a couple of men who seemed to be on alert at the south end of the main street. Vin recognized them from a few days ago, was pretty sure they were part of Ella Gaines posse of gunslingers. He and Buck ate dinner with Josiah, checked in at the boarding house as they all did across the day, and then they went to meet the Judge back at the livery.

“Glad to see you, Judge,” Vin said. “We were only going to wait a few minutes more.”

“How are things? How’s Ezra?”

“He’s awake, taken some broth. Coughing’s not so bad and Nathan says he does seem a little brighter.”

“Good,” Travis said, his tone strangely pointed. “That’s very good.” He looked exhausted, but still had that determined, steely look about him. Vin didn’t quite like the way he’d asked after Ezra. Felt a prickle of unease at the back of his neck.

“What’s your news?” Buck demanded. “What’s she want?”

“I need to see Chris again right away.” Travis looked down at himself as if considering whether it was worth bothering to brush off any of the new accumulation of dust. “And you boys better come too.”

Vin exchanged a glance with Buck. Then he held out a hand to invite the Judge to lead the way.

Both deputies were still on duty.

They got up, surprised, when the Judge in the dark clothing came back in through the jailhouse door, flanked by two men who looked as if they could handle themselves.

“I’d like to speak to the prisoner again,” Travis said to them without more preamble. “And I’d advise one of you boys to go find your boss because I’m going to need to speak to him too.”

“Sure thing,” the more experienced of the two said. “But if you’re going to want your privacy again, then I’m going to have to ask you to surrender your guns before you go through.”

“Of course.”

The remaining deputy, more curious than suspicious, took possession of their handguns, then let them through to the cells.

Seeing as the sheriff and his deputies weren’t too keen on constant visits, Vin hadn’t seen Chris in a day or two. He was glad to set his eyes on him, glad he was still standing. Although he looked rough as hell, and seeing Larabee behind bars made him feel sick.

“Boys,” Chris’s gruff voice said as their eyes became accustomed to the dim light. 

“Evening,” Buck returned. He motioned down at the floor where there was an empty plate and mug. “Hope you enjoyed your fine dinner.”

“It was shit,” Chris bit back, clearly in no mood for humor. “Judge, what’s going on?”

Travis plucked the letter out of his top pocket. “You heard about this?”

“Nathan came by.” Chris was non-committal, calm enough, but Vin wasn’t convinced. “What she want?”

The Judge squared his shoulders. “She said she’s prepared to drop all charges against you.”

“Really.” 

“Told me she’s going to come to the sheriff, tell him about the bullet. The doctor will back that up of course – because he knows what kind of lead he dug out of her and sees no reason not to tell the truth. She intends to have Ezra arrested, injured or not. She wants him tried for her attempted murder. And she wants you out of jail, Chris. Sitting alongside her in the courtroom.”

Chris had listened in motionless silence, but he laughed at that last part, a bitter, angry laugh that made Vin’s stomach curdle.

“She can fuckin’ whistle.”

“Wait,” Buck said, eyes on Travis’s face. “I know it sounds crazy, but just listen to the Judge, Stud, just listen for a minute.”

Chris’s eyes snapped towards Buck, irritated, and then back to Travis, suspicious. “If you’re going tell me to go along with her then you can forget it.”

“What, you mean because she suggested it? I thought going along with her was one of your plans?”

Chris swallowed. “Only if it kept Ezra safe.”

“Well,” Travis said. “Here’s the thing. Ever since you found out what she did, that terrible crime, I’ve gathered a good deal of information on Ella Gaines. She’s done her best to cover her tracks, but Mary has been writing letters and digging around for me. We have affidavits on some of the things that went on in her liquor business, some witness statements. And then there’s you, Chris, and all the boys. What happened at her house and what you found there. If I’m able to preside over the trial here – which I believe I can – then I’m not sure it will go quite in the direction she thinks. It will be tricky exonerating Ezra of attempted murder on the face of it, especially with the whole… subterfuge you boys cooked up, but there are many mitigating circumstances – not the least the murder of your wife and son. Think about it. This could be the chance you need to bring her to justice.”

Vin knew the ‘just let me kill her instead’ look on Chris’s face. He felt the same way, truth to tell, although the idea of that bitch rotting in jail was tempting too. As was the idea of her dangling on the end of a rope. And he knew the look on Buck’s face, wanting to get in that cell and shake some sense into his friend. Wrap him up in a fierce, annoying bear-hug he wouldn’t be able to struggle out of, so he’d know he wasn’t alone in all this.

Chris remained angry and adamant. “I know what I said, but we’re not risking Ezra like that. She ain’t getting me unless he’s safe. Unless you’re all safe and away from here.”

At least, Vin thought in sudden relief, at least he’s talking about ‘we’, so he ain’t that far gone. Although why Chris thought any of ‘em would agree to just leaving him behind in Ella Gaines’ clutches he didn’t rightly know.

“Clearly,” Travis said in a measured way, “Ezra is in no condition to take the stand right now. Nor should he even be transferred to the jail until a doctor can verify he’d survive long enough to face a trial. However, I can insist he remains where he is for now – under armed guard if necessary – until a physician is satisfied he’s strong enough for the judicial process to go ahead.”

Chris just stared at him.

“Could that be Nathan?” Buck asked, brow furrowing.

Travis blew out a short breath and then he shook his head. “Unlikely. Loath as I am to let Ella Gaines dictate terms, the more she likes the conditions of this deal the more likely she is to come to court, and the more likely we can bring her down. She knows Nathan would be protecting Ezra, trying to keep him out of court as long as he could.”

“No,” Chris said. “No. You’re not going to do this. It’s too risky.”

“Think about it, Chris,” Buck said, quiet. “She’s dropping charges – you heard that part, right? Far as I understand, that means we can get you out of here now. Tonight. And that means you can go see Ezra. Which is what you want, ain’t it? We can worry about everything else later.”

Chris turned towards him, face pale. There was still something implacable about him, but Vin saw a new flare in his eyes as well, different from the anger and distress. It was the thought of seeing Ezra, of being with him even if it wasn’t for very long. He turned away from them for a minute, hand on the back of his neck, head dropped, thinking. 

Buck opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else but Vin put a hand on his arm to signal he should keep quiet. 

Long, uneasy seconds ticked by. 

Finally, reluctantly, Chris turned back to them.

“There anything else I should know?”

“She asked for all you boys to hand in your guns as long as she’s in town with the sheriff. So that’s Josiah, J.D. and Nathan too. And for one hour after she leaves. For some reason she thinks you may have other plans for her.”

“Huh,” Buck said.

“She may be crazy,” Vin murmured, “but she ain’t stupid.”

“All right,” Chris said, as if, now he’d decided, he had to just plow on before he changed his mind again. “Fuck her, but all right. If this is the way to stop anyone else getting hurt, then I’ll do it.”

Vin thought of Ezra, in the state he was, lying on a jailhouse cot under a few mangy blankets. Or rattling at punishing speed in the back of a drafty wagon while danger lurked all the way along the trail. He thought of Chris being with Ella Gaines. Sick at heart and struggling to stop himself, every minute of every hour, from breaking her scrawny neck with his bare hands.

It sure didn’t seem like any course of action was going to stop her hurting people.

“So.” Judge Travis rubbed his face, blinking as if to keep himself alert. “We let this come to trial. We do the best we can to protect Ezra. And we see Ella Gaines convicted of murder.”

Chris backed up against his cot, sat heavily. He put his head in his hands.

“Fuck her,” he said again.

*

It wasn’t far from dawn the next day when Chris arrived back at the boarding house.

He’d remained in his cell while Ella Gaines came to talk to the sheriff, hand over the doctor’s statement, and begin her next damned play in this poisonous, lethal game. It had felt as if the very air turned sour when he knew she was in the same building as him. He only faintly heard her voice, and even that brought a cold sweat to his spine and an acid taste to his mouth. About an hour after she’d left, he was finally freed.

Judge Travis, practically nodding in a chair, was waiting. Along with Vin and Buck, who, it seemed, wouldn’t be told to go and rest. They’d taken back all their guns from the sheriff, escorted Travis along to the nearest Hotel and seen him inside.

Then they’d walked, silent and three abreast, up the street in the lightening gloom.

“You awright, Chris?” was the only thing Buck said, once they were standing on the corner outside the boarding-house.

Chris suppressed a shiver.

He looked between them. “Get some shut-eye, boys. This ain’t over yet.”

They let themselves in quietly. Chris guessed they’d all been on their best behavior, giving the tolerant Mrs. Murphy no reason to throw them out. Vin and Buck both shared rooms on the ground floor and they peeled off, let Chris go upstairs alone.

He found Nathan at the top of the stairs. How the man had managed any rest at all since he arrived in town Chris didn’t know. 

“Nate,” he said in a whisper, suddenly anxious that there was bad news.

“Right glad to see you, Chris,” Nathan said, putting a hand on his arm. He nodded his head in encouragement, then gestured at the door. “You’ll find him looking poorly, but he had a good day yesterday and I’m pleased with him. You’re not to tire him out or get him worked up, though, understand? I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but we’ve told him what’s going on and thank the Lord he’s able to take it in now.”

Chris swallowed around the rising lump in his throat. He gripped a clumsy handful of Nathan’s sleeve.

“Thank you,” he said, hoarse. “Without you-”

“Now then.” Nathan was brisk, closing a brief hand around Chris’s. “You know I did what I’d do for any of you. For any of my patients. You just get on in there and have your time. He won’t stay awake for long but he was damned determined he wouldn’t pass out before you got here.” He nodded again. “Go on, get in there.”

The room, when Chris pushed open the door and walked in, was warm and dim. It was quiet, too, which he hadn’t been expecting. Last time he’d been here the rattle of Ezra’s feeble attempts at breathing were all that could be heard. Almost holding his own breath, he shut the door quietly behind him.

His heart was thumping in his ears and his hands were clenched by his sides. As he approached the bed he could see that Ezra was still lying propped on plenty of pillows. Everything looked white – the bedding, the bandaging, the neat pile of towels on the dresser, his face. 

But the main thing – the thing that made his heart leap into his throat in a mixture of shock and downright joy - was Ezra’s eyes. They were open. Bright, but not with delirium. They were gleaming green, green as they’d ever been. Ezra was wide awake, and watching him walk across the floor.

Something expanded inside Chris’s chest. 

A hand lifted feebly from the bed as he drew near. Familiar fine fingers and smooth skin. Chris had snagged it by the time he’d half sunk, half collapsed into the chair by the bed.

“Where’ve you been?” Ezra demanded, gripping tight as he could. Which really wasn’t very tight at all. There was a splash of recently dried blood on the sheet which made Chris’s stomach clench.

He shifted the chair closer to the bed. As close as he could possibly get and still not as close as he wanted. Reaching out his other hand, shaky, he pushed a hank of dark hair back from Ezra’s forehead with the back of his knuckles. Then he turned the hand, testing for fever. There didn’t seem to be any and a strange fear pushed through his veins. Much as he wanted Ezra stronger, he didn’t want him strong enough for a jail cell. The thought was almost unbearable. 

“Hush,” he said, his own voice all tangled up.

“Been waiting for you,” Ezra rasped out softly, brow furrowing. 

“I’m here now.” Chris left his hand on the pillow, resting against one cheek. 

Ezra’s eyes were roving across his face, unhappy. “You look like hell.”

“That’s what worry’ll do to a man.”

“Didn’t know,” Ezra said. “Where you were. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“Ezra,” Chris said. There was a burning hot prickle in his eyes. “I thought… “

“You thought I was going to die.” Ezra shifted in the bed, uncomfortable. His speech was halting, his breathing sounded messy and he was a god-awful nasty color, but he had just the tiniest spark about him, Chris was pretty sure. Compared to when he last saw him anyhow. “I’ll bet I thought I was going to die more.”

Chris nearly laughed at that. Nearly. He squeezed the hand in his. God he was so tired. So tired and sick of all this. The prickle was back in his eyes.

“Not much of a honeymoon,” he said. 

“Maybe we’ll... get another. Opportunity.”

Chris grit his teeth. “You know what’s happening, right?”

Ezra turned his head on the pillow as if easing out some kinks. “I’m under arrest.” One brow quirked slowly.

“Judge thinks he can get you out of the charge, turn the tables on her.”

“Let’s hope the wheels of justice are turnin’... in the right direction then.” Ezra closed his eyes for a second, already tired out. He opened them again when Chris moved the fingers against his cheek. “Because you know I hate to...”

“Leave anything to chance. Yes, I remember.” Chris couldn’t keep the fondness out of his voice, even though it made him feel weak.

“And you,” Ezra said, sounding fainter than before. His brow wrinkled suddenly as if he had a pain. “You’re goin’ to play Mr. and Mrs. Larabee with her.” 

“Only ‘til this is over. I’ll sit in the fuckin’ courtroom with her but she won’t get anything else out of me.”

“I see.”

“Ezra, it won’t mean jack shit. You know that.” 

“Only one Miz Chris Larabee, right?” Ezra’s eyes dropped to half mast almost against his will.

“Yes,” Chris said, hating to see it. He hated this game, too, the pretense that had nearly torn Ezra from him, but still wasn’t able to help himself. His throat cramped up. “She wears satin and lace and she’s about the prettiest thing I ever saw.”

“Time,” Ezra murmured, the wrinkle still on his brow. “To put that damned dress. In moth-balls.” He shifted again as if he was hurting somewhere.

Chris let his hand drift over Ezra’s forehead until the lines smoothed out. “You rest,” he said, leaning down to press his lips against one too-defined cheekbone. “That’s all you gotta do. Just rest. We’ll handle everything else.” Ezra’s eyes didn’t open again but Chris felt the faintest pressure against the hand he held. “It’s all right,” he said. “I’m stayin’ right here.”

For now, he thought, bitter to the core. He knew he wouldn’t be here when Ezra woke up again. It hurt so damned bad that Ezra knew it, too.

*

Josiah hadn’t woken when Vin came into the room and shucked his clothes ready for bed.

He’d slept through the coming of first light and the first sounds of Mrs. Murphy up and about readying her kitchen for breakfast.

What woke him was the sound of the drape being pushed aside.

His eyes opened to the sight of his room-mate standing at the window in his union suit. Vin’s bed was mussed but there was clearly something on his mind.

“Everything all right?” Josiah asked, even knowing the stupidity of asking that at this time of all times.

Vin ignored the question anyhow.

“You know,” he said in a low voice, without turning round. He was staring fixedly out at the street in a certain way Josiah recognized and he felt a cold pit in his stomach. “It would be easy.”

“What would be easy?” Josiah asked, not even sure he wanted to know.

“Soon as she shows. Someone could just be somewhere hidden, somewhere up high. Reckon a person with a good aim could finish it all, just like that.”

“Well,” Josiah said, trying to keep his voice steady. “I reckon someone would be taking a terrible chance doing that. Might end up making things a whole lot worse. Seeing as we don’t need anybody else getting themselves into trouble for that woman.”

Vin didn’t even glance at him. 

“Just sayin’,” he said, and let the drape fall.

 

-ends-


End file.
